Eris

Eris has been said to be the daughter of Nyx, but she has also been called the sister of Ares and the nurse of War, helping her brother in arms to accomplish his bloody work.

Being of such a nature, the gods have kept Eris apart and she was not in the list of guests who were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of Achilles. Nevertheless Eris, being difficult to get rid of, came to the party and threw a golden apple through the door with the inscription:

And Hera, Athena and Aphrodite started disputing on account of the apple and were therefore sent by Zeus to Mount Ida near Troy in order to be judged by the shepherd Paris, who chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful, accepting Helen's hand for a bribe.

This is one cause of the Trojan War, for Paris, having come to fetch his bribe at Sparta, where Helen was queen, left the city as her lover and sailed with her to Troy. But her husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon sent a powerful army against Troy and created such a conflagration that still today causes such awe and amazement as if the flames of Troy were still burning.

When Eris causes a dispute she has at the beginning an insignificant appearance, but she soon reaches heaven with her head while having her feet still on the ground. And there is no disagreement between the contenders concerning Discord itself, for they usually agree in carrying the quarrel as far as they deem it necessary and desirable, which normally is, as some put it, "to the bitter end", since those possessed by contention never stop agreeing in the necessity of letting division prevail. That is why there is no end to quarrels until some other force takes Eris' place, for nothing can be expected from this divider to end a strife:

"Discord is the last of the gods to close an argument." [Antigone to a Herald. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 1057]

But some think that Discord cannot be avoided, arguing that equality and fairness have no existence beyond the name, and that is why they do not hesitate, when they deem it necessary in order to achieve the attractive aims that Eris whispers in their ears, to plunge family, friends and country into darkness in order to win, through debauched contention, whatever they fancy is of unsurpassable value.